


The S is for Secrets

by obvioustheory



Category: SEAL Team (TV)
Genre: Disargeement over the definition of minor, F/M, LGBTQ Character, M/M, Major Character Injury, Minor Character Death, Minor Injuries
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:55:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27118529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obvioustheory/pseuds/obvioustheory
Summary: An AU take on how the deployment at the end of season 3 might end.OR: Someone has been redecorating, a relationship ends, someone disagrees with Trent about the definition of a "minor injury",  a decade long secret is on the verge of being exposed and Jameela gets to go on her first secret mission.
Relationships: Naima Perry/Ray Perry
Comments: 18
Kudos: 50





	1. Hospitals are were secrets go to be revealed

Emma Hayes stood back and admired her handiwork, she’d flown back to VA Beach a day early to continue her personal mission of turning her dad’s cave of a loft into a home. It turns out she shouldn’t have bothered coming home early, as her dad’s return had been delayed. She’d spent the extra day going to the storage locker and collecting a bunch of practical and personal items before a trip to Target for a few more things. Now the loft had enough appliances on the bench and in the cupboard that her dad would be able to make whatever he wanted and she was nearly finished hanging pictures on the walls. They definitely weren’t the ones her dad would have chosen, but they were her favourites. She’d picked out a photo of her parents as children, the two of them at about ten years old grinning at Grandma Linda who was behind the camera. She’d picked out photos of her as a baby with her dad, and Mikey’s baby photos too. She'd found a bunch of great pictures of her dad with her and Mikey as they grew up. Her favourite picture of her was the one when she was about six, she had her dad’s huge battle helmet perched on her head and she was grinning at the camera. She also picked out a few photos of her dad and his team, the current one and the past teams. She'd tried to balance her dad's life as a SEAL with his life outside of the Navy even though she knew he'd probably only have picked out photos of his military career if given the choice.

When her phone rang, she was expecting it to be her dad, telling her he’d be home soon, but it was her uncle Sonny instead. “Hey Uncle Sonny, is everything ok?” She answered.

“Hey moonshine, it’s ah…. We shouldn’t talk on the phone” Sonny hesitated, “Can you drive down to the hospital?"

“Yeah, I can be there in 20” Emma replied, “Is my Dad ….. is he ok?”

“You just drive safe, ok?” Sonny replied. Emma clicked off the call and forced a shaky breath into her lungs. She couldn’t panic, not yet, she had to make it to the hospital.

* * *

Sonny paced the floor of the hospital reception anxiously. If Trent hadn’t been otherwise distracted, he’d be getting a lecture about staying off his injured ankle. But the ankle was barely sprained as far as Sonny was concerned, and compared to the rest of his team, he was perfectly fine. Hell, he’d operated with far more serious injuries.

“Sonny” Emma screamed, running straight into her uncle’s arms.

“Hey Princess” Sonny winced as Emma ran straight into him and hugged him tight.

“How’s my Dad?” Emma asked, not letting Sonny go. “What happened?”

“We had a little more trouble on our last mission is all….. Your Dad inhaled a lot of dust and smoke.” Sonny tried to talk around the issue. Trouble was an understatement; the mission was FUBAR. They’d gone after a new terror leader, one whose father Jason had taken out years ago. Junior had been more difficult to catch that his father. In the raid, the house had exploded, there’d been a gun fight as well as isolated hand-to-hand combat, and they’d barely made it to their extraction point. “He was stabbed twice and he lost a lot of blood.” Emma gasped, “He’s gonna be just fine, he’s out of surgery and he’ll be awake soon.”

“What about the others” Emma pulled back to look at Sonny, he was covered in scratches and bruises. “Is anyone else hurt?”

“Ray, Brock, Clay and Metal are here too” Sonny replied, “Thirty Mike didn’t make it.”

“Uncle Trent?” Emma asked.

“He’s ok, scrapes and bruises is all” Sonny answered, “Your dad owes him a couple cases of beer.”

Emma rolled her eyes, someone had died and they were still counting who owed who cases of beer. “Can I see Dad?” She asked, she needed to see him with her own eyes to know that he was safe.

Sonny led her to the elevator, they were silent until they reached her Dad’s room. Trent was sitting beside the bed, he stood as they walked in. Emma quickly crossed the room to hug her Uncle. “Thank you for saving my Dad” She whispered.

Trent snorted in response, “I’ll be back to check in later, he should be awake soon.”

Trent and Sonny both walked out, leaving Emma alone with her Dad. She pulled the chair up close to the bed and took his hand, at a loss for what to do next, she started telling her Dad about the changes she’d made to his apartment. Maybe the news would seep into his subconscious somehow and he’d be less grumpy when she actually told him what she’d been up to.

* * *

Clay tapped his foot impatiently, the nurse seemed to be taking her sweet time with his discharge paperwork. Not that Clay thought he’d really needed to be admitted in the first place, sure he’d inhaled some dirt and smoke and god only knows what else, so what he’d coughed a few times. But Trent insisting he wear an O2 mask all flight and get a chest x-ray when they got to the hospital had been overkill in his opinion. Trent would strongly disagree with him on that, but arguing and being stubborn were some Clay’s strengths. Unlike Sonny, who could never resist matching Trent’s level of annoyance or outright anger during an argument, Clay could calmly argue his point back and forth until Trent got so annoyed with him he’d stalk off, usually muttering something along the lines of “it’s your funeral anyway, you fucking moron”.

Clay turned when he heard the door to his room open, hoping it was the nurse coming back to release him, he barely managed to suppress an irritated groan when he saw who had arrived.

“Oh my goodness, I was so worried about you, are you ok? Maybe we should have you transferred to a better facility, military hospitals are ….” Rebecca rambled, grabbing Clay by the arms and trying to guide him back towards the bed. “At least this will really show people why you left the SEALS, it’s a nice, coherent narrative. Clean, simple, they’ll eat it up.”

“Rebecca, why are you here?” Clay interjected, unable to keep the hostility from his voice.

“What do you mean?” Rebecca asked, “Of course I’m here”

“Did you really think I wouldn’t figure it out” Rebecca gave him a confused look, she was a good actress, he’d give her that, “Should’ve realised it sooner, you called the DOD.”

“Clay, I don’t know what lies you’ve been told, but I would never do that” Rebecca replied. Clay wanted to roll his eyes, she seriously thought he was an idiot.

“I heard the tape” Clay stated.

“Clay, someone from your team probably doctored it” Rebecca lied easily, “You know they don’t want the best for you like I do. They’ve never liked me and they probably thought they could lie and break us up. They don’t understand what we’ve building here.”

“Exactly how stupid do you think I am?” Clay retorted, “You know what, I don’t actually care. Why don’t you just leave.”

“Clay, you can’t be serious.” Rebecca stated, shocked. Clay did roll his eyes at that one. Of course, it had taken longer than he’d like to admit, but he had eventually caught onto her game. It wasn’t a coincidence that she’d been promoted twice since they got together after her career had been stalled for years. She was using him as an in with influential people, looking to further her own career. And apparently, she was prepared to burn his life to the ground to do it.

“Leave” Clay repeated. After a few tense minutes, she seemed to realise it was a lost cause and headed for the door. Clay breathed a sigh of relief, especially when the nurse walked in holding his discharge paperwork.

* * *

Chloe Reynolds headed down the hospital corridor with her four-year-old daughter, Rae, squirming in her arms. All she’d told the little girl is that they were going to see daddy, she hadn’t mentioned that Brock was injured. After three months of deployment with only the occasional FaceTime call, Rae was anxious to be reunited her dad and Cerberus, her furry, four-legged older brother. Although it occurred to Chloe she actually had no idea where Cerberus was.

“Daddy” Rae screamed as soon as they walked into the room. Brock was lying in a hospital bed with his right foot suspended above the bed, he appeared to be asleep. “Daddy, wake up!”

“Baby, let Daddy sleep” Chloe whispered.

“No, I wanna talk to Daddy” Rae yelled back, trying to throw herself forwards onto Brock’s bed, “Daddy.”

 _Oh Good Lord_ , Chloe thought. This was a bad idea, she thought, she should have left Rae with a babysitter until Brock was ready for visitors. But she’d been so excited about finally seeing her husband again and so worried about his injuries that she hadn’t even thought about how Rae would react. Naima was way better than her at this military wife stuff.

“I thought you were being good while Daddy was gone” Brock muttered, turning his head slightly towards his wife and daughter, but not opening his eyes. “You promised” He held out his arms for Rae to climb into.

Chloe relinquished their daughter, even though she wasn’t sure it was a good idea. She didn’t have a full account of her husband’s injuries, only what Trent had told her on the phone, Brock’s ankle had been crushed and he had some other minor injuries. Although Chloe frequently disagreed with her husband and his team on their definition of minor. A scrape you covered with a Band-Aid, minor. A cut you closed with thirty-two stitches, NOT MINOR TRENT!

“I missed you Daddy” Rae stated.

“I missed you two baby” Brock replied, “Missed your Mum too.”

“How are you?” Chloe asked, scanning him for any more injuries, especially ones Rae might exacerbate by lying with him.

“Fine” Brock stated, Chloe gave him a disbelieving look, “Surgeon said the ankle will heel in six weeks, minor concussion.”

“Concussions are not minor” Chloe argued. It was one of the most frequent arguments in their marriage, she’d lost track of how many concussions he’d had about 18 months into their relationship.

“That’s her grumpy voice” Rae whispered to her Dad. Brock laughed in response and shuffled his daughter onto the other side of the bed.

“Come here” He requested, indicating to the side he’d just moved their daughter from.

“No” Chloe stated, “That bed is not big enough for all of us and you’re hurt”

“Please” Brock asked.

“Fine” Chloe rolled her eyes, “But you’ve explaining this when your nurse gets angry.”

* * *

Trent wandered up to the ICU after checking that Jason, Ray, Brock and Clay were all resting comfortably with their families. Just as he got to the door, the nurse exited.

“He’s still unconscious” The nurse told Trent, they’d met earlier but Trent couldn’t remember her name, “His daughter is with him”

“Thanks” Trent muttered, shuffling past to enter the room. The sight that greeted him made his heart melt a bit, his sixteen-year-old daughter laying on the bed, cuddled up to his partner of over a decade. But the practical side of him quickly took over, their whole team was wandering around the hospital, and anyone could have come in to check on their injured teammate. Having Jess tell the nursing staff she was his daughter would be difficult to explain if the nurse had just spoken to anyone else on Bravo.

Jess watched her dad enter the room, and she watched as his demeanour changed, she knew exactly where his train of thought was going. “Don’t even start with me.” She stated firmly, “I’ve missed you, I’m glad to see you but I won’t tolerate your bullshit right now.”

“Jess” Trent grumbled, “People will have questions, the whole team is here. Someone will come by soon.”

“I don’t care.” Jess retorted, “And you shouldn’t either. The nurse said his brain swelled, he nearly died. And all you care about is keeping your stupid secret. It’s bad enough we lie all the time, but he’s my dad and he’s unconscious and he might not wake up, so why does Bravo even matter.”

“Jess” Trent stated, “I know your upset but we’ve talked about this.” Trent looked at his daughter, who has still lying on the bed clutching onto her dad. The team had no idea about the relationship between him and Scott “Full Metal” Carter. They had no inclination that Scott was just as much Jess’s dad as he was. That he’d taken on the then five-year-old as if she was his own and had been raising her ever since. Jess hadn’t really understood when she was little, but since she’d reached her teenage years, she’d been vocal about wanting them to go public with their relationship. It’s not that they hadn’t talked about it, they’d discussed it on many occasions. But they’d come back to the same conclusion, being in a relationship with another man, another team guy, would be a point of too much contention on the teams. As much as the world had progressed, in a lot of ways the military had lagged behind, and keeping their relationship private avoided a lot of potential issues and complications. Although they didn’t like to admit it, they just couldn’t be sure that their teams would be accepting of their relationship and still willing to work with them as closely as they did now.

“He’s my dad too” Jess repeated, clinging to Metal as though she thought he’d physically pull her off the bed, “What if he doesn’t get better?”

“Oh, Jess” Trent sighed, he walked around the bed and pulled up a chair so he could sit beside them. “He’ll be fine. He’s got a thick skull.”

“How can you not be worried about this.” She stated, mildly annoyed at her Dad’s deflection.

“Of course, I’m worried Jess” Trent replied softly. He’d been the one to treat Metal in the field, after Cerberus had found him under all the rumble. When Clay and Sonny had pulled the last piece of debris away, there’d been an awful minute where Trent was sure that his partner was dead. It was going to be a memory that haunted him for years.

* * *

Ray had sighed in relief when the doctor had told him that he’d only strained a few muscles in his shoulder. When he’d first realised on the plane home how much worse the pain in his right shoulder was, he’d assumed he re-aggravated the old injury from years before. Thankfully, he wouldn’t need another shoulder reconstruction, just a few weeks of light duties while the muscles recovered. Not that Bravo would be in any state to spin up anytime soon. They’d been off the rotation for a while, hopefully Charlie and Echo teams wouldn’t be too pissed off when they found out they’d be pulling double duty for the foreseeable future. Either way, it’d definitely cost Bravo a few cases of beer each at the next teams barbecue.

When the nurse stopped by to deliver his pain medication and discharge paperwork, Naima asked if she had an update on the rest of his team.

“Master Chief Hayes hasn’t woken up from surgery yet, but it shouldn’t be long now, Petty Officer Spencer has been discharged” The nurse listed, “Petty Officer Reynolds is awake and with his family. Master Chief Carter hasn’t regained consciousness, but his daughter arrived a while ago.”

“Metal has a kid?” Sonny asked from his spot on the floor where he’d been entertaining RJ and Jameela.

“Maybe it was Emma” Naima suggested. Even though she could probably list the things she knew about Full Metal on one hand, Naima still felt fairly certain he didn’t have kids.

“Sonny” Ray stated.

“Recon” Sonny interrupted, “Come on, Jammie, your dad’s banged up and this mission needs a Perry.”

“I get to go on a mission with you” Jameela clapped, she grabbed Sonny’s hand and started pulling him out the door.

“Sure do” Sonny laughed, “And successful Sonny Quinn missions always end in mountains of ice-cream.”

“You better not feed my child an unreasonable amount of ice-cream Sonny Quinn” Naima called after them.


	2. Sonny Quinn: Unreliable Narrator

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sonny Quinn knows what he saw, god damn it!

Emma was still sitting by her father’s bedside when he woke up in the early evening. She’d patiently explained that he was back home after being Medivacked to Virginia Beach and that the rest of the team was close by. Soon the nurses came in and shooed her from the room so they could do all their post-op testing. When she returned twenty minutes later with Rae-Rae in tow, her dad was interrogating his nurse about the condition of his other team members.

“Dad” Emma warned. She couldn’t tell who was more irritated, the nurse or her dad. “Everyone’s fine”

“Em” Jason sighed as the nurse quickly took the opportunity to flee the room, “Where’s Mikey?”

“He’s still at school” Emma replied, “He’ll be home in the weekend, calling him would only make him scared.”

“What about you Baby Reynolds” Jason asked, reaching out to lift his niece onto the bed with him. “Come to visit your favourite uncle?”

“Mummy and Daddy were smooching” Rae complained, pulling a face.

God bless you, baby Reynolds, Jason thought. The quietest member of Bravo didn’t give the team reason to tease him all that often. But Brock’s four-year-old daughter had just given them the ammunition they needed for months. Sonny would have a field day. He couldn’t wait to see what new nicknames the Texan would think of.

* * *

Clay was sitting in the hospital waiting room texting updates to Mandy, Lisa and Blackburn who were stuck on base in de-briefing meetings. He really had no reason to be at the hospital much longer, Jason had Emma to take care of him, Ray had been discharged and had taken the family home, Brock was spending time with his wife and daughter, and Full Metal had Trent watching over him. Clay wasn’t really sure where Sonny had disappeared to, but he had money on the destination having alcohol, strippers or both.

“Spencer” Blackburn greeted as he walked up, pulling Clay from his thoughts, “Metal & Jase awake yet?”

“Jase, yes, Metal, no” Clay replied, holding his hand out to pat Cerberus who Blackburn had brought with him. The dog was practically vibrating with either excitement or anxiety. “You wanna see your Dad, hey bud?”

“Nurse said he can stay in the waiting areas, but not in patient rooms” Blackburn stated, his tone giving away his annoyance. While the hospital staff were concerned about an animal posing a risk of infection to their patients, the bond between Cerberus and Brock was an incredibly strong one. The two were rarely separated for significant periods of time, and when either of them was unwell, they heeled better when the other was close.

“Lucky you’re a SEAL then, hey Cerb” Clay grinned, giving the dog an affectionate scratch behind the ears.

“I know nothing about this” Blackburn muttered, leaving the dog with Clay so he could go and track down a nurse for an update on his injured team.

* * *

“So, I got some news while you were away” Chloe Reynolds told her husband nervously. She hoped he’d be excited, God knows she was, “I’m pregnant, 14 weeks.”

Brock didn’t seem surprised by the news. They had been trying for another baby for close to a year, but with the unpredictable nature of Brock’s work schedule, raising a rambunctious four-year-old, and Chloe’s schedule as a social worker with child services, there alone time didn’t always line up to when Chloe was ovulating.

“You already figured it out” Chloe accused her husband, he’d predicted she was pregnant with Rae before she’d taken the test five years ago too. Her husband was observant as hell, both by nature and from his training as a SEAL, surprising him with anything was impossible.

“That’s a maternity dress” Brock shrugged, he remembered the dress from her first pregnancy, she’d practically lived in it and ended up purchasing it in multiple colours “And your face is rounder.”

Chloe rolled her eyes, “I could have just been fat”.

Brock wisely said nothing. Even if she wasn’t pregnant, he wouldn’t touch that comment with a ten-foot pole.

“Rae doesn’t know yet” Chloe stated, “I figured we should both tell her.”

“She’s going to be so excited” Brock stated.

“Are you excited?” His wife asked anxiously.

“Course”

* * *

Trent was half asleep when he noticed Metal’s fingers start to twitch. Jess was still lying in bed beside her dad, fast asleep. He squeezed his partner’s hand reassuringly, glancing over at the monitors to check his vitals were ok.

“You’re ok” Trent whispered, “We’re back in VA Beach.”

“Jess” Metal groaned, he’d never had such a huge headache in his life.

“Right next to you” Trent replied. He watched as Metal slowly opened his eyes and looked down at their daughter. “She won’t leave your side.”

“Team?” Metal asked, “Here?”

“They’re around” Trent replied, wishing he could keep this vague, but Metal deserved to know what had been happening while he was unconscious, it wasn’t his secret, it was theirs and it likely wasn’t going to be a secret much longer. “Sonny did the world’s worst reconnaissance mission a couple of hours ago.” Metal snorted, “He saw you and Jess.”

“Secret’s out?” Metal asked, pulling Jess a little closer to him, being careful not to wake her.

“Probably” Trent didn’t really know for sure, since he had arrived in the ICU he hadn’t left. He felt bad, as the team medic he usually made a point of checking on his team mates regularly while they were injured. But he hadn’t found the motivation to leave this room once he arrived and his daughter’s glaring every time he started to stand was definitely enough to keep him in his seat.

“Don’t care” Metal stated, reaching up with his free arm to pull Trent towards him by the collar of his shirt. Although they’d been on the same deployment for the last three months, it was the first time they’d kissed since leaving their house on the morning of their departure. The base had very few spaces that people could sneak off to without anyone getting wind of where they were going and what they were doing. Which meant three months of absolutely no contact between team, other than the occasional quiet chat by the fire pit with their teams in close proximity or sometimes a run around the perimeter of the base, which was also rife to be crashed by their teammates at any given moment.

“How’s your head” Trent asked, pulling away just far enough to ask the question.

“Sore” Metal shrugged, immediately pulling him back.

Trent pulled away again. “We’re going to wake the kid.”

“Don’t care” Metal whispered, tugging on the shirt again.

“She’s already pissed with me.” Metal rolled his eyes, then wished he hadn’t cause it made his brain hurt even more. Trent and Jess were constantly at each other’s throats, ever since she hit puberty. It didn’t help that Jess’s mother was a complete lunatic and allowed the young girl to do whatever she wanted most the time. If it was up to him, his daughter would have a full-time SEAL-protection detail whose only responsibility would be ensuring that no potential boyfriend or girlfriend got within six feet of his baby.

“Your problem”

* * *

“Are you sure?” Lisa asked sceptically. Sonny had told her some completely wild stories in the past decade, but a secret relationship between Full Metal and Trent, well, that was definitely the craziest thing he’d ever come up with.

“I’m tellin’ ya Davis” Sonny stated emphatically, “I know what I saw”.

“There’s no way” Ray stated, “We would have known”. The entire team had gathered in Brock’s hospital room, no one seemed quite sure what to make of Sonny’s story.

“Meelah” Sonny stated, “Show ‘em”

Jameelah grinned at the chance to be the centre of attention and pulled out her iPad. “Proof” She stated, turning the screen around to show pictures Sonny had taken of the Sawyers inside Metals’ hospital room. The team gathered round the iPad to examine the pictures. There was no denying it was a little strange to see Jess Sawyer lying in Full Metal’s hospital bed, and that Trent seemed to be holding Metal’s hand in most the pictures.

“Brock, Mandy?” Jason asked his most observant team members, if anyone had insight into what was going on it was them.

Brock shrugged, seemingly disinterested in the whole team. Chloe watched her husband and felt confused and concerned. Brock definitely didn’t have a problem with LGBTQIA+ people, she knew that for sure. Her brother is gay and Brock was the best man at the wedding. So why was he so upset by a relationship between Trent and Full Metal. A relationship that she wasn’t even sure existed because Sonny Quinn was the definition of an unreliable narrator.

“Jess told the nurse she’s Metals’ kid” Sonny stated, he was annoyed that the rest of the team were so sceptical. He was a Tier 1 operator and he knew what he saw damn it!

“Here’s a crazy thought” Louisa Blackburn, Eric’s wife, stated, “Why don’t we just ask them?”


	3. 12 Fucking Years!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team gets their interrogation.
> 
> Also since Metal has no actual back-story on the show, I've taken creative license to his character, including his family and what kind of parent he is.

Bravo Team ended up waiting much longer than anticipated for their planned interrogation. Full Metal remained in the ICU for three days after he woke up, where strict visitor limits prevented the team from being together in full. When he was moved to a step-down ward, the extremely strict, and elusive, charge-nurse prevented gatherings on her ward (and _**if**_ that charge nurse was Naima, who didn’t want to miss the interrogation but wouldn’t have been able to participate if it happened on her ward, then Ray would never admit that to his brothers).

Jason arrived at the Sawyer house early in the morning the day after Full Metal had been discharged from the hospital. He had expected Brock would arrive before he did, but Bravo 5 had been quieter than usual since Sonny’s wild story 10 days ago (which most people wouldn’t think was possible until they’d met Brock).

When Trent opened the door he still looked half asleep. Trent was generally the one to keep an extra eye on sick or injured team members, but Jase had never seen him quite this wrecked before.

“Have you even slept since we got back” Jason asked as he followed Trent towards the kitchen.

“Some” Trent grumbled, pouring a fresh cup of coffee and offering it to his boss.

“You look like shit” Jason stated bluntly. He’d known that Trent hadn’t left the hospital while Metal was in the ICU, but he’d assumed that once he’d been moved to a regular ward that Trent would have been going home and getting at least some sleep. But looking at the man now, it was pretty obvious he hadn’t. Jason eyed the closed door of the guest room, wondering how much of a conversation the two of them could have before being interrupted. Looking around Trent’s house now was like seeing the place with fresh eyes. He’d been here hundreds of times before, but he’d never realised three people lived here. But it was fairly obvious, three sets of shoes by the front door, three glasses left over in the sink, three phones charging on the kitchen counter. How two entire teams of tier-one operators (and one CIA liaison who swore to him she had no idea) had missed this was anyone’s guess.

“He was going to tell you” Trent stated, looking at the counter to avoid eye contact, “Scott wanted to be the one to tell you about all this.”

Part of Jason felt relieved by Trent’s statement. He could reconcile Trent not telling him, at the end of the day, Jason was their boss and there were some things that his men just couldn’t tell him, even if they wanted to. But Scott was his friend, his equal. They both ran tier-one teams and shared a bond over the insanely stressful nature of their jobs. As close as Jason was to Ray, he and Metal had always been closer. Hearing the news from Sonny, it wasn’t Trent he’d felt betrayed by, it was Metal.

“This is going to be a conversation” Jason states, “You and me are gonna have to talk about this. But after you talk to the team.”

They fall into silence. They both know that the rest of Bravo will be on their way and they’ll all have questions. When Full Metal emerges, from the hallway that leads to the master bedroom not from the guest bedroom, Jason is reminded how much of a change this will be for the teams. Because of course Metal was sleeping in the master bedroom, not the guest bedroom, but Jason had made the assumption without thinking and now he felt a little stupid.

“Hayes” Metal grunted, not bothering to stop on his way to the coffee pot.

“How’s the head?” Jason asked. Metal’s head injury had been the most serious of everyone’s injuries on their last mission (other than Thirty Mike of course, who didn’t make it home).

“Been better” It was as close to an admission of pain as Metal would ever make in front of another team guy. With Trent, and sometimes even Jess, he’d admit how much pain he was in, right now it was not just his head but his entire body from being buried under rumble for the better part of two hours. But when it came to the teams he had a reputation to uphold, and never admitting pain was a part of it. Metal checked his phone and instantly dismissed all notifications, except the one from his mum rescheduling their planned lunch to dinner.

“What’s that?” Jason asked, as Metal put down his phone to inspect a while oval-shaped device Jason had never seen before.

“It’s Jess’s” Trent stated. Metal unplugged it from the charger and stated heading in the direction of their daughter’s room. Once he was out of earshot, Trent continued, “When she started having the stomach pain, and got diagnosed with PCOS, he researched ways to keep her out of pain. He found that, she says it’s been the best thing she’d tried.”

Jason said nothing in response. Having been married nearly 20 years and having a post-pubescent daughter, he was familiar with period pain and the various ways Alana and Emma managed it. But it was hard to reconcile Full Metal, the guy who scared the pants off even the most hardened SEALS, with Scott Carter, the father who apparently spent time researching his teenage daughter’s menstrual issues.

* * *

An hour later, all of Bravo had gathered in Trent (and Metal’s) living room. Brock had hobbled in first, with his wife and Cerberus hovering close by to ensure he was steady on his crutches. Lisa and Mandy had arrived together, with donuts and pastries for everyone. Blackburn and his wife had arrived around the same time as Derek and Trish. Emma arrived and immediately disappeared into Jess’s room, neither teenager had re-emerged. Sonny and Clay arrived together, both smelling faintly of beer and whisky, which lead Jason to believe that they’d had a long night, but at least they’d showered, rather than coming straight from the bar. Ray and Naima arrived last, having had to wait for Naima’s mum to come and look after the kids.

“So” Sonny started, keen to be vindicated after all the doubts the team had thrown his way following his recon mission, “How long y’all been lying to us.”

“Sonny” Lisa warned.

“12 years next month” Metal stated, glaring at Sonny as if daring him to ask a follow up question.

“12 fucking years!” Sonny exclaimed, never one to back down even from Full Metal, “You ever plan to tell us?”

“You personally?” Metal asked, “No.” He barely hid his grin, riling Sonny up was one of his favourite ways to pass time, especially a long plane ride.

“Did you know?” Clay asked, pointing at Brock who shook his head, “You?” Mandy also shook her head, “How the fuck did you two manage to hide this from a spook, and Brock?”

“Y’all aren’t that observant” Metal shrugged. The room descended into chaos as each man in the room felt the need to defend their powers of observation.

* * *

Emma and Jess heard the rising voices in the other room. “They’re getting riled up out there” Emma stated.

“Pops is probably baiting them” Jess shrugged, “Metal” she added at Emma’s confused look.

“You call him Pops?” Emma asked, finally finding a way into the conversation she’d been dying to having since she arrived.

“Yeah, I mean, I was six when they told me they were together, and I already had a dad, you know” Emma nodded, but she didn’t really know. “Metal calls his step-dad Pops. I decided to call Metal that too.”

“Metal has a step-dad?” Emma asked. She really knew next to nothing about Full Metal, despite the fact that she’s know him her entire left. Unlike the other members of Bravo, and the other team guys her dad was close with, Metal didn’t really share personal details very often. Which thinking back on it now, made a lot of sense.

“Yeah, his mum had him when she was like fifteen” Jess stated, “His bio dad’s a deadbeat, Gran left him when Pops was only a few months old. Got married to Gramps when Pops was a teenager.”

“Are you close?” Emma asks, “Do you see them much?”

Jess snorts, “They live like 3 blocks away, I stay with them when Dad and Pops are gone.”

“I thought you lived with your Mum when Trent was spun up?” Emma asked, at least that’s what she, and Emma guesses Bravo Team, had always assumed.

“Nah, she and I get along better from a distance” Jess replies, “Also, she’s not real big on the whole parenting thing. She’s always treated me like some weirdly young friend of hers or an accessory, depending on the day.”

“Why did you never tell me?” Emma asked. She and Jess had always been close friends, even with the three-year age difference between them. Their dads (all three of them, apparently) had been gone at the same time and they were often around the same social events with the team.

“I wanted to, it’s like the second most frequent argument Dad and I have” Jess replied, she sensed Emma’s betrayal in the question. They’d been lying to their whole Alpha/Bravo family for her entire life. She reached to grab a scrapbook she kept in a drawer under the bed. “They’ve been together since I was four, there was DADT back then, and when it got repealed they decided to wait a while and then they got worried that the teams would treat them differently if they knew. So it’s been a secret, this whole time.”

They started flipping through the scrapbook together, with Jess giving commentary and background information on each photo. “That’s Gran” Jess grinned pointing to a photo of Full Metal and an older lady with a clear resemblance to him, “She’s the toughest person I’ve ever met. Got pregnant in high-school, refused to get married, kicked her deadbeat boyfriend out of the house when Pops was just a baby, raised him completely on her own in rural West Virginia. Keeps Gramps and Pops in line, never backs down from anything. She’s way scarier than Pops. He's not that scary when you know he’s a Mama’s boy.”

“Are you even talking about the same person?” Emma asks, the last thing she would expect was that Scott “Full Metal” Carter was a Mama’s boy. She’d always assumed he’d just appeared one day of a nowhere, she can’t even imagine what he’d have been like as a child, or a teenager, or at any point in his life before she met him. They continue their flipping until they come across a picture of Full Metal and Trent together. It’s obvious they weren’t aware they were being photographed, they’re looking at each other in a way that reminds Emma of some of the photos of her parents at their wedding or the rare occasion when she’d look up from the T.V. and see her parents whispering to each other back before their marriage imploded.

“They’re actually pretty mushy” Jess grins, enjoying the shock on her friend’s face. “Especially Pops, and especially if they’ve been on separate spin-ups. I can’t believe they managed to hide it for so long. They’re like whispering and sappy all the time. I have serious doubts about observational skills on Alpha and Bravo.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was a random idea I had a week ago that wouldn't leave my head. Let me know if it should be continued.


End file.
